The Almighty: Greek Picture

Well here it is again, an older series I uploaded, but have no revamped and updated. It is part of my Almighty series avatars, I have an Egyptian one, which i will upload later after I've gone over it, and am in the process of starting a Norse one as well. Please comment.

Hesiod's Theogony, tells how, after Chaos, arose broad-breasted Gaia the everlasting foundation of the gods of Olympus. She brought forth Uranus, the starry sky, her equal, to cover her, the hills (Ourea), and the fruitless deep of the Sea, Pontus, "without sweet union of love," out of her own self through parthenogenesis. But afterwards, as Hesiod tells it, she is a great god of nature "she lay with her son, Uranus, and bore the world-ocean god Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and the TitansHyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Phoebe of the golden crown, and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronus the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."

So it began with Chaos(whom is not technically a "god" just primordial cosmic force) then Gaia, the earth titan, followed by her husband son Uranus or Oranos. Oranos is the Titan of the Skies

Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun.

Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the TitansHyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon". However, Selene, a Titan, was eventually largely supplanted by Artemis, an Olympian; the Romans similarly deemed Luna predecessor to Diana.

Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky. He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own sons, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, and imprisoned in Tartarus.

Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth. She was known as "the mother of gods." In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian gods and goddesses, though never dwelling permanently among them on Mount Olympus.

In classical antiquity, Oceanus was believed to be the world-ocean, which the ancient Romans and Greeks considered to be an enormous river encircling the world. In Greek mythology, this world-ocean was personified as a Titan, a son of Uranus and Gaia.

Leto, the hidden, and bright Titan, was said to have bore both Artemis and Apollo. Titan of Motherhood as well as the Unseen. Due to her affairs with Zeus, she was often despised by Hera. Leto is a daughter of the TitansCoeus and Phoebe.

Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Atlas, with his brother Menoetius, sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia (the Earth) and hold up Uranus (the Sky) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. A common interpretation today is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but Classical art shows Atlas holding the celestial spheres, not a globe.

Prometheus was the Titan god of forethought and crafty counsel who was entrusted with the task of molding mankind out of clay. His attempts to better the lives of his creation brought him into direct conflict with Zeus. Firstly he tricked the gods out of the best portion of the sacrificial feast, acquiring the meat for the feasting of man. Then, when Zeus withheld fire, he stole it from heaven and delivered it to mortal kind hidden inside a fennel-stalk. As punishment for these rebellious acts, Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora (the first woman) as a means to deliver misfortune into the house of man, or as a way to cheat mankind of the company of the good spirits. Prometheus meanwhile, was arrested and bound to a stake on Mount Kaukasos where an eagle was set to feed upon his ever-regenerating liver (or, some say, heart).

Zuez, King of the Gods, God of the Sky, Lightning and Thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

Hera, Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Marriage, Women and Birth. Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses), Hera may bear a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against Zeus's lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias. Paris offended her by choosing Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess, earning Hera's hatred.

Poseidon, God of the Sea, Storms, Earthquakes and Horses. He was also known as the "Earth-Shaker". His brothers Zeus and Hades. Poseidon has many children. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, although he lost the contest for Athens to Athena.

Hades, it refers to both the Greek underworld as well as the King of the underworld, God of the Dead and Riches.

Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld, and a daughter of Demeter and Zeus. She was the goddess of spring, but often said to the goddess of all four seasons.

This brings me to Persephone's mother, Demeter whom was originally believed to be the Goddess of all seasons, but when her daughter was kidnapped she threw the world into chaos to get her back. In short, the story is very complex and confusing to me at least, much like much Greek myth as well. To try summarizing it is near impossible, there seems to be little agreement on it as well. Mythology is a tricky subject, always changing. Basically she got changed from goddess of all season to just the goddess of the harvest and or wheat.

Ah great Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy, and was also the driving force behind Greek theater. Satyrs were the troop of male companions of the him as well as Pan(More on him later)

Iris is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. As the sun unites Earth and heaven, Iris links the gods to humanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other, and into the depths of the sea and the underworld.

Artemis often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. Artemis, along with Athena and Hestia are the three great Virgin Goddesses.

The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular godthe prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle.

he is the son of Zeus and Hera. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Like other mythic smiths but unlike most other gods, Hephaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek eyes.Because he was lame, Hera threw him out of heaven in disgust; alternatively, he was rendered lame by the fall.

The Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite. Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, and so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers, both gods like Ares, and men like Anchises. Aphrodite also became instrumental in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis' lover and his surrogate mother. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite.

Eros was the primordial god of sexual love and beauty. His Roman counterpart was Cupid. In the Theogony Hesiod makes him a primordial god, while in some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares. He was also worshipped as a fertility deity. Anteros was the god of requited love, literally "love returned" or "counter-love" and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love. Anteros was the son of Ares and Aphrodite, given to his brother Eros, who was lonely, as a playmate, the rationale being that love must be answered if it is to prosper. Physically, he is depicted as similar to Eros in every way, but with long hair and plumed butterfly wings. He has been described also as armed with either a golden club or arrows of lead.

Goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill. She is the virgin patron of Athens. The Athenians built the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens, in her honour. She is the sister to Ares.

Ares is the Greek god of war. As the Olympian god of warfare, bloodlust, righteous indignation, and courage; lover of Aphrodite, Ares presides over male passion, the weapons and preparations for war, the defense and protection of cities, rebellion and civil order, policing of banditry, masculinity, integrity, and personal courage. Deimos, "terror", and Phobos "fear", are his companions in war his children, borne by Aphrodite, according to Hesiod. The sister and companion of the violent Ares is Eris, the goddess of discord or Enyo, the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence. Ares, who was himself referred to as "The Father of Victory," is also accompanied by Nike, the deathless spirit of victory.

In Greek mythology, Ploutos "wealth" usually Romanized as Plutus, was equally a son of the pre-Hellenic Cretan Demeter and the demigod Iasion, with whom she lay in a thrice-ploughed field and, in the mythic context of Eleusinian Demeter, also the divine child, the issue of the ravisher, the child and boy-double of the "wealthy" Hades (Plouton). Plutus was the personification of wealth. He was also thought to have been the child of Hades and Persephone. Many vase paintings show him with the king and queen of the Underworld.

Pan is the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein, meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.

Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, is the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary. With the establishment of a new colony, flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement. Hestia is one of the three great goddesses of the first Olympian generation, along with Demeter and Hera. She was described as both the oldest and youngest of the three daughters of Rhea and Kronos, the sisters to three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, in that she was the first to be swallowed by Kronos and the last to be disgorged Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia gave up her seat in favor of newcomer Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on Mount Olympus.

Nyx was the primordial goddess of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of personified gods such as Hypnos (sleep) and Thánatos (death). Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but reveal her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty.

Great messenger of the gods in and additionally a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics and sports, of weights and measures, of invention, and of commerce in general. His symbols include the tortoise, the rooster, the winged sandals, the winged hat, and the caduceus.

Nemesis also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous") at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods). The Greeks personified vengeful fate as a remorseless goddess; the goddess of revenge. "Nemesis" is now often used as a term to describe one's worst enemy, normally someone or something that is the exact opposite of oneself but is also somehow similar.

(Janus is in fact Roman) In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, endings and time. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions; one head looks back at the last year while the other looks forward to the new, simultaneously into the future and the past. Hecate, a Greek goddess who can be seen as Janus' counterpart.

Morpheus "shaper of dreams" is the god of dreams, leader of the Oneiroi. Morpheus has the ability to take any human form and appear in dreams. His true semblance is that of a winged daemon, imagery shared with many of his siblings. According to Hesiod, Morpheus is the son of Nyx, the primordial goddess of the night, produced parthenogenically, or as Cicero claims, with Erebus, the embodiment of the dark land beyond the path of the sun.

Hypnos was the personification of sleep. His twin was Thánatos "death"; their mother was the primordial goddess Nyx "night". His palace was a dark cave where the sun never shines. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnogogic plants. Hypnos' three sons or brothers represented things that occur in dreams (the Oneiroi). Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos appear in the dreams of kings. According to one story, Hypnos lived in a cave underneath a Greek island; through this cave flowed Lethe, the river of forgetfulness. In art, Hypnos was portrayed as a naked youthful man, sometimes with a beard, and wings attached to his head. He is sometimes shown as a man asleep on a bed of feathers with black curtains about him. Morpheus is his chief minister and prevents noises from waking him. In Sparta, the image of Hypnos was always put near that of death.